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Summer 2004 Newsletter

Two into one Will Go

On Budget day, Gordon Brown announced something that had been expected for quite a while - the merger of the Inland Revenue with Customs & Excise. There have been a number of less than complimentary suggestions for names for the new department, but it seems that it will be 'Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs'. The first chairman will be David Varney, who comes from the mobile phone company mm02 (will we be texting our returns in the near future?).

The Government suggests that the merger will cut the costs of collecting tax, and will allow businesses to have just one point of contact with the tax authorities instead of two. The objective is to deal with taxpayers' affairs more efficiently.

There are some taxpayers who think that being 'dealt with efficiently' is a scary prospect, but in general it's better if the tax officials we deal with are properly trained, sensible and supported by a decent administration system. Although it's possible that this may come about after the merger, there is always a risk in such a big reorganisation - people move, paper is lost, information goes astray. Customs officers will have to learn about tax, and Revenue inspectors will have to learn about VAT.

We'll have to wait and see whether this turns out to be a Good Thing, as promised, or a mess. We can only hope it doesn't add to the frustrations of dealing with tax and VAT.